Full Title

State of Kentucky

Description

Governor Thomas E. Bramlette reacts to the news of Abraham Lincoln's assassination. He also proclaims a day of mourning on April 19th at 12 o'clock for the entire state of Kentucky.

Transcription

State of Kentucky
Executive Department
Frankfort, April 17, 1865
By the hand of an assassin a great grief has been brought upon our country. The Chief Magistrate of the Nation, the President of the United States, ABRAHAM LINCOLN, had fallen a victim to rebellious hate under the vengeful blow of an assassin. He has fallen at a time when his great qualities of humanity were so hopefully invoked for the healing of our National woes! With no stain of vindictive nature upon his soul - with a great heart of generous sympathies and broad humanities - his untimely fall has bowed a Nation's head in mourning.
On WEDNESDAY, the 19th inst., at the hour of 12 o'clock, A.M. (the hour of his funeral), let every church bell be tolled throughout the Commonwealth; and on that day let all business be suspended, and all business houses be closed, the public offices closed, and draped in mourning.
The citizens of Kentucky are invoked to pay that homage to the National grief which such a great calamity inspires.
THOS. E. BRAMLETTE, Governor of Kentucky.

Source

U.S. National Archives, General Records of the Department of Justice

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Thomas E. Bramlette. "State of Kentucky". Remembering Lincoln. Web. Accessed May 5, 2025. https://rememberinglincoln.fords.org/node/1200

Creator

Thomas E. Bramlette

Date

April 17, 1865

Full Title

General Schultz to Colonel Wagnerd

Description

In light of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, General S. Schultz informs Colonel Louis Wagnerd that a celebratory parade for the end of the war in Pennsylvania would not go on as planned.

Transcription

Head Quarters.
Department of Pennsylvania,
Philadelphia, Pa. April 15th 1865.
Lt: Col: Louis Wagnerd
Comidg Camp "William Penn"
Chelten HIlls, Penna
Colonel
I am directed by the Commanding General to inform you the proposed parade of of he U.S. Troops in this city will not take place on monday next 17" isnt. on account of the sad news received this morning. You will therefore not be required to furnish the men from your command, for that purpose as requested, by the letter dated from these Head Quarters April 14" 1965.
I am Colonel,
Very Respectfully
Your Ob'd't Servant
Gnl. S. Schultz
Ap't Adj't General

Source

U.S. National Archives, Records of the Provost Marshal General's Bureau

Rights

This item is in the public domain and may be reproduced and used for any purpose, including research, teaching, private study, publication, broadcast or commercial use, with proper citation and attribution.

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Cite this Item

National Archives. "General Schultz to Colonel Wagnerd". Records of the Provost Marshal General's Bureau. Remembering Lincoln. Web. Accessed May 5, 2025. https://rememberinglincoln.fords.org/node/1199

Creator

National Archives

Publisher

Records of the Provost Marshal General's Bureau

Date

1865-04-15

Full Title

Letter from Lincoln's Cabinet to Andrew Johnson

Description

Lincoln's Cabinet wrote to Andrew Johnson the day of his assassination to inform him of the events and to inform him of the next move for the U.S. government.

Transcription

Washington City DC
April 15, 1865, -

Sir:
Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, was shot by an assassin last evening, at Ford's Theater in this city and died at the hour of 22 minutes of seven o'clock.
About the same time at which the President was shot, an assassin entered the back chamber of the house of Wm H. Seward, Secretary of State, and stabbed him in several places,
in the throat, neck, and face, severely if not mortally wounding him. Other members of the Secretary's family were dangerously wounded by the assassin while making his escape.
By the death of President Lincoln, the office of President has devolved under the Constitution upon you. The emergency of the government demands that you should immediately qualify, according to the requirements of the Constitution and enter upon the duties of President of the United States. If you will please make known your pleasure, such arrangements as you deem proper will be made.

Your Obedient Servants,
Hugh McCulloch Secretary of the Treasury
Edwin M Stanten Secretary of War
Gideon Welles Secretary of Navy
W. Dennison Postmaster General
J.P. Usher Secretary of the Interior
James Speed Attorney General

Source

U.S. National Archives, General Records of the Department of State

Rights

This item is in the public domain and may be reproduced and used for any purpose, including research, teaching, private study, publication, broadcast or commercial use, with proper citation and attribution.

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Cite this Item

National Archives. "Letter from Lincoln's Cabinet to Andrew Johnson". General Records of the Department of State. Remembering Lincoln. Web. Accessed May 5, 2025. https://rememberinglincoln.fords.org/node/1198

Creator

National Archives

Publisher

General Records of the Department of State

Date

1865-04-15

Full Title

Dr. Charles A. Leale

Transcription

The Assassination and Death of Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States

by Chl. A. Leale, Asst. Surgeon US Vol. Executive Officer, Armory Square U.S.A. Hosp[ita]l. Washington D. C.

Having been the first of our profession who arrived to the assistance of our late President, and having been requested by Mrs. Lincoln to do what I could for him I assumed the charge until the Surgeon General and Dr. Stone, his family physician arrived, which was about 20 minutes after we had placed him in bed in the house of Mr. Peterson opposite the theatre, and as I remained with him until his death, I humbly submit the following brief account.

I arrived at Ford's Theatre about 8 1/2 P.M. April 14/65 and procured a seat in the dress circle about 40 feet from the Presidents Box. The play was then progressing and in a few minutes I saw the President, Mrs. Lincoln, Major Rathbone and Miss Harris enter; while proceeding to the Box they were seen by the audience, ^[insert] who cheered [/insert] which was reciprocated by the President and Mrs. Lincoln by a smile and [strikethrough] a [/strikethrough] bow. The party was proceeded by an attendant who ofter opening the door of the box and closing it after they had all entered took a seat near by for himself.

The theatre was well filled and the play of "Our American Cousin" progressed very pleasantly until about half past ten, when the report of a pistol was distinctly heard and about a minute after a man of low stature with black hair and eyes, was seen leaping to the stage, beneath holding in his hand a drawn dagger. While descending his heel got entangled in the American flag, which was hung in front of the box, causing him to stumble when he struck the stage, but with a single bound he regained the use of his limbs and ran to the opposite ^[insert] side [/insert] of the stage, flourishing ^[insert] in his hand a drawn [/insert] [strikethrough] his [/strikethrough] dagger and disappearing behind the scene. I then heard cries that the "President has been murdered", which were followed by those of "Kill the murderer", "Shoot him" etc. which came from different parts of the audience. I immediately ran to the President's box and as soon as the door was opened was admitted and introduced to Mrs. Lincoln, where she exclaimed several times "O Doctor, do what you can for him, do what you can"! I told her we would do all ^[insert] that [/insert] we possibly could.

When I entered the box the ladies were very much excited. Mr. Lincoln was seated in a high backed arm-chair with his head leaning towards his right side supported by Mrs. Lincoln, who was weeping bitterly. Miss Harris was near her left and behind the President.

While approaching the President I sent a gentleman for brandy and another for water. When I reached the President he was in a state of general paralysis, his eyes were closed and he was in a profoundly comatose condition, while his breathing was intermittent and exceedingly stertorous. I placed my finger on his right radial pulse but could perceive no movement of the artery.

As two gentlemen now arrived, I requested them to assist me to place him in a recumbent position, and as I held his head and shoulders, while doing this my hand came in contact with a clot of blood near his left shoulder. Supposing that he had been stabbed there I asked a gentleman to cut his coat and shirt off from that part, to enable me if possible to check the haemorrhage, which I supposed took place from the subclavian artery or some of its branches.

Before they had proceeded as far as the elbow I commenced to examine his head (as no wound near the shoulder was found) and soon passed my finger over a large firm clot of blood, situated about one inch below the superior curved line of the occipital bone and an inch and a half to the left of the median line of the same bone. The coagula I easily removed and passed the little finger of my left hand through the perfectly smooth opening made by the ball and found that it had entered the encephalon. As soon as I removed my finger a slight oozing of blood followed and his breathing became more regular and less stertorous. The brandy and water now arrived and a small quantity was placed in his mouth, which passed into his stomach where it was retained.

Dr. C. S. Taft and Dr. A. F. A. King now arrived and after a moments consultation we agreed to have him removed to the nearest house, which we immediately did, the above named with others assisting. When we arrived at the door of the box, the passage was found to be densely crowded by those who were rushing toward that part of the theatre. I called out twice "Guards clear the passage," which was so soon done that we proceeded without a moments delay with the President and were not in the slightest interrupted until he was placed in bed in the house of Mr. Peterson, opposite the theatre, in less than 20 minutes from the time that he was assassinated. The street in front of the theatre before we had left it was filled with the excited populace, a large number of whom followed us into the house. As soon as we arrived in the room offered to us, we placed the President in bed in a diagonal position; as the bed was too short a part of the foot was removed to enable us to place him in a comfortable position. The windows were opened and at my request a Captain, present made all leave the room except the medical gentlemen and friends. As soon as we placed him in bed we removed his clothes and covered him with blankets. While covering him I found his lower extremities of the ecchymosis until it encircled the orbit extending above the supra orbital ridge and below the infra orbital foramen. The wound was kept open by the Surgeon General by means of ^[insert] a [/insert] silver probe, and as the President was placed diagonally on the bed, his head was supported in its position by Surgeon Crane and Dr. Taft ^[insert] (relieving each other) [/insert]

About 2 A. M. the Hospital Steward, who had been sent for a Nelatons probe, arrived and an examination was made by the Surgeon General, who introduced it to a distance of about 2 1/2 inches, when it came into contact with a foreign substance, which laid across the track of the ball. This being easily passed the probe was introduced several inches further, where it again touched a hard substance, which was at first supposed to be the ball, but as the bulb of the probe on its withdrawal did not indicate the mark of lead, it was generally thought to be another piece of loose bone. The probe was introduced a second time and the ball was supposed to be distinctly felt by the Surgeon General, Surgeon Crane and Dr. Stone. After this second exploration nothing further was done with the wound except to keep the opening free from cogula, which if allowed to form and remain for a very short time, would produce signs of increased compression; the breathing becoming profoundly stertorous and intermittent and the pulse to be more feeble and irregular. His pulse which was several times counted by Dr. Ford and noted by Dr. King, ranged until 12 P. M. from between 40 to 64 beats per minutes, and his respiration about 24 per minute, were loud and stertorous. At 1 A. M. his pulse suddenly increased in frequency to 100 per minute, but soon diminished gradually becoming less feeble until 2:54 A. M. when it was 48 and hardly perceptible. At 6:40 A. M. ^[insert] his [/insert] pulse could not be counted, it being very intermittent, two or three pulsations being felt and followed by an intermission, when not the slightest movement of the artery could be felt. The inspirations now became very short and the expirations very prolonged and labored accompanied by a guttural sound. 6.50 A.M. The respirations cease for some time and all eagerly look at their watches until the profound silence is disturbed by a prolonged inspiration which was soon followed by a sonorous expiration. The Surgeon General now held his finger to the carotid artery, Col. Crane held his head, Dr. Stone, who was sitting on the bed, held his left pulse, and his right pulse was held by myself. At 7.20 A.M. he breathed his last and "the spirit fled to God who gave it."

During the course of the night the room was visited by many of his friends. Mrs. Lincoln with Mrs. Senator Dixon came into the room three of four times during the night. The Presidents son, Captn R. Lincoln, remained with his father during the greater part of the night. Immediately after death had taken place, we all bowed and the Rev Dr. Gurley supplicated to God in behalf of the bereaved family and our afflicted country.

[Stamped: The National Archives of The United States] [Right Margin Vertical Text: D No 776]

True Copy

Chas. A. Leale M.D.

Source

”>U.S. National Archives, War Department

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This item is in the public domain and may be reproduced and used for any purpose, including research, teaching, private study, publication, broadcast or commercial use, with proper citation and attribution.

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Cite this Item

National Archives. "Dr. Charles A. Leale". War Department. The Adjutant General's Office. Remembering Lincoln. Web. Accessed May 5, 2025. https://rememberinglincoln.fords.org/node/1197

Creator

National Archives

Publisher

War Department. The Adjutant General's Office

Date

1865

Full Title

Dr. Robert King Stone Testimony

Description

Dr. Robert King Stone was the Lincoln family doctor and one of 350 witnesses to give an account of the events of April 14, 1865. Dr. Stone recounts his experience with the dying Lincoln on the night of the assassination. Stone includes a description of Lincoln's fate and the care he received in his final hours.

Transcription

Dr. Robert King Stone,

a witness called for the prosecution, being duly sworn, testified as follows:

By the Judge Advocate

Q. State to the Court if you are a practicing physician in this city?
A. I am.
Q. Were you, or not, the physician of the late President of the United States?
A. I was his family physician.
Q. State whether or not you were called to see him on the evening of his assassination, and the examination which you made and the result?
A. I was sent for by Mrs Lincoln immediately after the assassination. I arrived there in a very few moments and found that the President had been removed form the theatre to the house of a gentleman living directly opposite the theatre, had been carried into the back room of the residence, and was there placed upon a bed. I found a number of gentlemen, citizens, around him, and among others two assistant surgeons of the army who had brought him over from the theatre and had attended to him. They immediately gave over the case to my care, knowing my relations to the family. I proceeded then to examine him, and instantly found that the President had received a gunshot wound in the back part of the left side of his head, into which I carried immediately my finger. I at once informed those around that the case was a hopeless one; that the President would die; that there was no positive limit to the duration of his life; that his vital tenacity was very strong, and he would resist as long as any man could, but that death certainly would soon close the scene. I remained with him doing whatever was in my power, assisted by my friends, to aid him, but of course, nothing could be done, and he died the next morning at about half past seven o'clock. It was about a quarter past ten that I reached him.
Q. He died from that wound?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Did you extract the ball?
A. Yes, sir. The next day, previous to the process of embalmment, with some medical friends, Dr. Curtis and Dr. Woodward of the Army, and in the presence also of Surgeon General, Dr. Barnes, the examination was made. We traced the wound through the brain, and the ball was found in the anterior part of the same side of the brain, the left side, - a large ball resembling those balls which are shot from the pistol known as the Derringer; an unusually large ball; that is, a larger ball than those used in the ordinary pocket revolvers.
Q. Was is a leaden ball?
A. Yes, sir, a hand made ball, from which the tag on the little end had been cut by hand. The ball was flattened somewhat, impressed in its passage through the skull, and a portion had been cut off in going through the bone. I marked the ball with the initials of the late President, and sealed it in the presence of the Secretary of War in his office, - sealed it with my private seal and endorsed it with my name. The Secretary enclosed it in another envelope which he endorsed in like manner and sealed with his private seal. It is still in his custody, and he ordered it to be placed among the archive of his department.
Q. Was the ball slightly flattened?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Did you see the pistol?
A. No, sir, I did not. I may state that I marked the ball with the initials of the President, "A, L", so that I could recognize it instantly.
Q. [Exhibiting a ball to the witness.] Look at that ball and tell the Court whether it is the one which you extracted from the head of the President?
A. It is. I recognize the mark I put upon it with my penknife, "A. L", and the shape of the ball. This is the fragment of which I spoke, which was cut off in its passage through the skull. The ball was flattened as I described it to the Court.

[The ball was offered in evidence without objection, and is marked Exhibit No. 30.]

Q. You know nothing in regard to the pistol?
A. No, sir, I never saw it.

Source

U.S. National Archives, Records of the Office of the Judge Advocate General (Army)

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This item is in the public domain and may be reproduced and used for any purpose, including research, teaching, private study, publication, broadcast or commercial use, with proper citation and attribution.

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Cite this Item

National Archives. "Dr. Robert King Stone Testimony". Remembering Lincoln. Web. Accessed May 5, 2025. https://rememberinglincoln.fords.org/node/1196

Creator

National Archives

Date

May 16, 1865

Full Title

The Lesson of President Lincoln's Death: A Speech of Wendell Phillips at the Tremont Temple, on Sunday Evening, April 23, 1865

Description

Abolitionist Wendell Phillips delivered this speech at Tremont Temple baptist church in Boston in the days after the Lincoln assassination. Phillips calls for African American rights as part of Lincoln's legacy.

Transcription

THE LESSON OF PRESIDENT LINCOLN’S DEATH: A SPEECH OF WENDELL PHILLIPS,
At the Tremont Temple, on Sunday Evening, April 23, 1865.

These are sober days. The judgments of God have found us out. Years gone by chastised us with whips; these chastise us with scorpions. Thirty years ago, how strong our mountain stood, laughing prosperity on all its sides! None heeded the fire and gloom which slumbered below. It was nothing that a giant sin gagged our pulpits; that its mobs ruled our streets, burnt men at the stake for their opinions, and hunted them like wild beasts for their humanity. It was nothing, that, in the lonely quiet of the plantation, there fell on the unpitied person of the slave every tortue which hellish ingenuity could devise. It was nothing that as husband and father, mother, and child, the negro drained to its dregs all the bitterness that could be pressed into his cup; that, torn with whip and dogs, staved, hunted, tortured, racked, he cried, “How long! O Lord, how long!” In vain did a thousand witnesses crowd our highways, telling to the world the horrors of this prison-house. None stopped to consider, none believed. Trade turned away its deaf ear; the Church gazed on them with stony brow; Letters passed by with mocking tongue. But what the world would not look at, God has set to-day in a light so ghastly bright, that it almost dazzles us blind. What the world refused to believe, God has written all over in the face of the continent, with the sword’s point, in the blood of our best and most beloved. We believe the agony of the slave’s hovel, the mother, and the husband, when it takes its seat at our board We realize the barbarism that crushed him in the sickening and brutal use of the relics of BUll RUn, in the torture and starvation of Libby Prison, where idiocy was mercy, and death was God’s best blessing; and now, still more bitterly, we must it in the coward spite which strikes an unarmed man, unwarned, behind his back; in the assassin fingers which dabble with bloody knite at the throats of old men on sick pillows. O, God! Let this lesson be enough! Spare us any more such costly teaching!
This deed is but the result, and fair representative, of the system in whose defence it was done. No matter whether it was previously approved at Richmond, or whether the assassin, if he reaches the confederates, be received with all honor, as the wretch Brooks was, and as this bloodier wretch will surely be, wherever rebels are not dumb with fear of our cannon. No matter for all this. God shows this terrible act to teach the nation, in unmistakable terms, the terrible foe with which it has to deal. But for this fiendish spirit, North and South, which holds up the rebellion, the assassin had never either wished or dared such a deed. This lurid flash only shows us how black and wide the cloud from which it sprung.
And what of him in whose precious blood this momentous lesson is writ? He sleeps in the blessings of the poor, whose fetters God commissioned him to break. Give prayers and tears to the desolate widow and the fatherless; but count him blessed far above the crowd of his fellow-men. [Fervent cries of “Amen!”] He was permitted himself to deal the last staggering blow which sent rebellion reeling to its grave; and then, holding his darling boy by the hand, to walk the streets of its surrendered capital, while his ears drank in praise and thanksgiving which bore his name to the throne of God in every form piety and gratitude could invent; and finally, to steal the sure triumph of the cause he loved with his own blood. He caught the first notes of the coming jubilee, and heard his own name in every one. Suppose that, when a boy, as he floated on the slow current of the Mississippi, idly gazing at the slave upon its banks, some angel had lifted the curtain, and shown him, that, in the prime of his manhood, he should see this proud empire rocked to its foundation in the effort to break those chains; should himself marshal the hosts of the Almighty in the grandest and holiest war that Christendom ever knew, and deal, with half-reluctant hand, that thunderbolt of justice which would smite the foul system to the dust; then die, leaving a name immortal in the study pride of our race and the undying gratitude of another, — would any credulity, however sanguine, any enthusiasm, however fervid, have enabled him to believe it? Fortunate man! He has lived todo it! [Applause.] God has graciously withheld him from any fatal misstep in the great advance, and withdrawn him at the moment which his star touched its zenith, and the nation needed a sterner hand for the work God gives it to do.
No matter now, that, unable to lead and form the nation, he was contented to be only its representative and mouthpiece; no matter, that, with prejudices hanging about him, he groped his way very slowly and sometimes reluctantly forward; let us remember how patient he was of contradiction, how little obstinate in opinion, how willing, like Lord Bacon, “to light his torch at every man’s candle.” With the least possible personal hatred; with too little sectional bitterness, often forgetting justice in mercy; tender-hearted to any misery his own eyes saw; and in any deed which needed his actual sanction, if his sympathy had limits, recollect he was human, and that he welcomed light more than most men, was more honest than his fellows, and with a truth to his own convictions such as few politicians achieve. With all his shortcomings, we point proundly to him as the natural growth of democratic institutions. [Applause.] Coming time will put him in that galaxy of Americans which makes our history the day-star of the nations, — Washington, Hamilton, Franklin, Jefferson and Jay. History will add his name to the bright list, with a more loving claim on our gratitude than either of them. No one of those was called to die for his cause. For him, when the nation needed to be raised to its last dread duty, we were prepared for it by the baptism of his blood.
What shall we say as to the punishment of rebels? The air is thick with threats of vengeance. I admire the motive which prompts these; but let us remember, no cause, however infamous, was ever crushed by punishing its advocates and abettors. All history proves this. There is no class of men base and coward enough, no matter what their view and purpose, to make the policy of vengeance successful. In bad causes, as well as good, it is still true that “the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church.” We cannot prevail against this principle of human nature. And, again, with regard to the dozen chief rebels, it will never be a practical question whether we shall hang them. Those not now in Europe will soon be there. Indeed, after paroling the bloodiest and guiltiest of all, Robert Lee [loud applause], there would be little fitness in hanging any lesser wretch.
The only punishment which ever crushes a cause is that which its leaders necessarily suffer in consequence of the new order of things made necessary to prevent the recurrence of their sin. It was not the blood of two peers and thirty commoners, which England shead after the rebellion of 1715, or that of five peers and twenty commoners, after the rising of 1745, which crushed the House of Stuart. Though the fight had lasted only a few months, those blocks and gibbets gave Charles his only change to recover. Bute the confiscated lands of his adherents, and the new political arrangement of the Highlands, — just, and recognized as such, because necessary, — these quenched his star forever.
Our Rebellion has lasted four years. Government has exchanged prisoners and acknowledged its belligerent rights. After that, gibbets are out of the question. A thousand men rule the Rebellion, — are the Rebellion. A thousand men! We cannot hang them all. We cannot hang men in regiments. What, over the continent with gibbets! We cannot sichen the nineteenth century with such a sight. It would sink our civilization to the level of Southern barbarism. It would forfeit our very right to supersede the Southern system, which right is based on ours being better than theirs. To make its corner-stone the gibbet would degrade us to the level of Davis and Lee. The structure of Government which bore the earthquake shock of 1861 with hardly a jar, and which now bears the assassination of its Chief Magistrate, in this crisis of civil war, with even less disturbance, needs, for its safety, no such policy of vengeance; its serene strength needs to use only so much severity as will fully guarantee security for the future.
Banish every one of these thousand rebel leaders, — every one of them, on pain of death if they every return! [Loud applause.] Confiscate every dollar and acre they own. [Applause.] These steps the world and their followers will see are necessary to kill the seeds of caste, dangerous State rights and secession. [Applause.] Banish Lee with the rest. [Applause.] No Government should ask of the South which he has wasted and the North which he has murdered such superabundant Christian patience as to tolerate in our streets the presence of a wretch whose hand upheld Libby Prison and Andersonville, and whose soul is black with sixty-four thousand deaths of prisoners by starvation and torture.
What of our new President? His whole life is a pledge that he knows and hates thoroughly that caste which is the Gibraltar of secession. Caste, mailed in States rights, seized slavery as its weapon to smite down the Union. Said Jackson, in 1833; “Slavery will be the next pretext for rebellion.” PRETEXT! That pretext and weapon we wrench from the rebel hands the moment we pass the anti-slavery amendment to the Constitution. Now kill caste, the foe who wields it. Andy Johnson is our natural leader for this. His life has been pledged to it. He put on his spurs with this vow of knighthood. He sees that confiscation, land placed in the hands of the masses, is the means to kill this foe.
Land and the ballot are the true foundations of all Governments. Intrust them wherever loyalty exists, to all those, black and white, who have upheld the flag. [Applause.] Reconstruct no State without giving to every loyal man in it the ballot. I scout all limitations of knowledge, property or race. [Applause.] Universal suffrage for me. That was the Revolutionary model. Every freeman voted, black or white, whether he could read or not. My rule is, any citizen liable to be hanged for crime is entitled to vote for rulers. The ballot insures the school.
Mr. Johnson has not yet uttered a word which shows that he sees the need of negro suffrage to guarantee the Union. The best thing he has said on this point, showing a mind open to light, is thus reported by one of the most intelligent men in the country, the Baltimore correspondent of the Boston Commonwealth: —
“The Vice-President was holding forth very eloquently in front of Admiral Lee’s dwelling, just in front of the War-Office in Washington. He said he was willing to send every negro in the countray to Africa to save the Union. Nay, he was willing to cut Africa loose from Asia, and sink the whole black rae ten thousand fathoms deep to effect this object. A loud voice sang out in the crowd, ‘Let the negro stay where he is, governor, and give him the ballot, and the Union will be safe forever!’ ‘And I am ready to do that, too!’ [loud applause] shouted the governor, with intense energy, whereat he got three times three for the noble sentiment. I witnessed this scene, and was pleased to hear that our Vice-President take this high ground, for up to this point must the nation quickly advance, or there will be no peace, no rest, no prosperity, no blessing, for our suffering and distracted country.”
The need of giving the negro a ballot is what we must press on the President’s attention. Beware the mistake which fastened McClellan on us, running too fast to indorse a man while untried, determined to manufacture a hero and leader at any rate. The President tells us that he waits to announce his policy till events call for it, — a wise, timely, and statesman-like course. Let us imitate it. Assure his in return that the government shall have our support like good citizens. But remind him that we will think him what we think of his poliey when we learn what it is. He says, “Wait: I shall punish; I shall confiscate. What more I shall do, you will know when I do it.”
Let us reply: “Good! So far, good! Banish the rebels. See to it that, beyond all mistake, you strip them of all possibility of doing harm. But see to it also that before you admit a single State to the Union, you oblige it to give every loyal man in it the ballot, — the ballot, which secures education; the ballot, which begets character where it lodges responsibility; the ballot, having which, no class need fear injustice or contempt; the ballot, which puts the helm of the Union into the hands of these who love and have upheld it. Land, — where every man’s title-deed, based on confiscation, is the bond which ties his interest to the Union; ballot, — the weapon which enables him to defend his property and the Union. These are the motives for the white man: the negro needs no motive but his instinct and heart. Give him the bullet nad ballot, he needs them; and while he holds them the Union is safe. To reconstruct now without giving the negro the ballot would be a greater blunder, and considering our better light, a greater sin that our fathers committed in 1789; and we should have no right to expect from it any less disastrous results.”
This is the lesson God teaches us in the blood of Lincoln. Like Egypt, we are made to read our lesson in the blood of our first-born, and the seats of our princes left empty. We bury all false magnanimity in this fresh grave, writing over it the maxim of the coming four years: “Treason is the greatest of crimes, and not a mere difference of opinion.” That is the motto of our leader to-day, — that the warning this atrocious crime sounds throughout the land. Let us heed it, and need no more such costly teaching. [Loud applause.]






[Transcription by: Hannah A.B., Dr. Susan Corbesero’s Class, Ellis School, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania]
 

Source

Lincoln Financial Foundation Collection via The Internet Archive

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This item is in the public domain and may be reproduced and used for any purpose, including research, teaching, private study, publication, broadcast or commercial use, with proper citation and attribution.

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Cite this Item

Wendell Phillips. "The Lesson of President Lincoln's Death: A Speech of Wendell Phillips at the Tremont Temple, on Sunday Evening, April 23, 1865". Press of Geo. C. Rand & Avery. Remembering Lincoln. Web. Accessed May 5, 2025. https://rememberinglincoln.fords.org/node/1195

Creator

Wendell Phillips

Publisher

Press of Geo. C. Rand & Avery

Date

April 23, 1865

Full Title

Excerpts from the Letters and diary of Laura M. Towne

Description

Laura M. Towne was an abolitionist and an educator. Before the Civil War, Towne was studying medicine but was motivated to become an abolitionist after the outbreak of the Civil War. Towne volunteered when the Union captured Port Royal and other Sea Islands area of South Carolina. She and her friend, Ellen Murray, founded the Penn Center on St. Helena Island, the first school for freed slaves. Her diaries and letters from this time were edited by Rupert Sargent Holland and published in 1912.

Transcription

The gardens are gay with jonquils and “daffies,” and the jessamine is nearly in full bloom.
The bell — when will that come? A golden opportunity will be gone if it does not come this week! Our schoolhouse is being shingled now, and if the Government carpenter goes we shall probably have to pay for it, or I shall. It is my affair.

Charleston, S.C., April 14, 1865.
I have seen the same old flag raised on Sumter by General Anderson himself,1 Garrison,2 George Thompson, Tilton, Beecher,3 and a host of abolitionists being present. It was a most beautiful and glorious sight…

Village, St. Helena, S.C., April 23, 1865.
We did go to Charleston to that great celebration, and on the very day that vile assassin was doing his work, or had accomplished it.4 Such shouts and cheers went up for Lincoln from the freed people of Charleston, at the mention of his name by Garrison at the great meeting in Zion Church, that it must have done him good even in his death. I never saw such enthusiasm as they showed every time he was mentioned. On the island here they are inconsolable and will not believe he is dead. In the church this morning they prayed for him as wounded but still alive, and said that he was their Saviour — that Christ saved them from sin, and

1. The United States flag was raised on Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor on April 14, 1865, by General Robert Anderson, who had been compelled to surrender the same fort four years before.
2. Willian Lloyd Garrison.
3. Henry Ward Beecher.
4. Abraham Lincoln was assassinated April 14, 1865.
----------------------------------

he from “Secesh,” and as for the vile Judas who had lifted his hand against him, they prayed the Lord the whirlwind would carry him away, and that he would melt as wax in the fervent heat, and be driven forever from before the Lord. Was n’t it the cunning of the Devil that did the deed; and they are going to prove him insane! When he was wise enough to strike the one in whom all could trust, and whose death would inevitably throw confusion and doubt into the popular mind of the North! And then to single out Seward2 in hopes that the next Secretary might embroil us with Europe and so give them another chance! It is so hard to wait a week or two before we know what comes next.
But I must tell you of our trip to Charleston. General Saxton gave us all passes, and a large party of teachers went from this island with Mr. Ruggles — good, kind, handsome fellow — to escort us. We stayed at a house kept by the former servants or slaves of Governor Aiken.
I was dreadfully seasick going up, and the day after I got there had to go to bed, and so I missed seeing many things I should have liked to visit. It stood — the house we stayed at —in the very heart of the shelled part of the city, and had ever so many balls through it. The burnt part of the town is the picture of desolation, and the detested “old sugar-house,” as the workhouse was called, looks like a giant in his lair. It was where all the slaves were whipped, and the whipping-room was made with double walls filled in with sand so that the cries could not be heard in the street. The treadmill and all

2 An attempt was also made to assassinate Secretary State Seward.
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kinds of tortures were inflicted there. I wanted to make sure of the building and asked an old black woman in that was the old sugar-house. “Dat’s it,” she said, “but it’s all played out now.” On Friday we went to Sumter, got good seats in the amphitheatre inside, near the pavilion for the speakers, and had a good opportunity to see all. I think there was not that enthusiasm in Anderson that I expected, and Henry Ward Beecher addressed himself to the “citizens of Charleston,” when there were not a dozen there. He spoke very much by note, and quite without fire.
At Sumter I bought several photographs, and send you one of the face [of the fortress] farthest from Wagner, Gregg, and our assailing forts, and consequently pretty well preserved. If you look closely you will see rows of basket-work, filled with sand, repairing a break. The whole inside of the fort is lined with them.
The next day was the grand day, however, when Wilson, Garrison, Thompson, Kelly, Tilton, and others spoke. Redpath mentioned John Brown’s name, and asked the great congregation to sing his favorite hymn, “Blow ye the Trumpet,” or “Year of Jubilee.”
I spoke to Judge Kelly afterwards and had a nice promise from him that he would send me all his speeches. We came home on Sunday and found all the missing boxes arrived,— or nearly all,— among them, mine. You do not know how intensely we all enjoy your picture—that exquisite sea-view. How could you spare me such a picture! I lie down on our sofa which faces it, and do so heartily enter into the freshness of it that it is refreshing in this hot weather. Many thanks to you.
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[The next letter refers to the death of President Lincoln.]

Saturday, April 29, 1865.
… It was a frightful blow at first. The people have refused to believe he was dead. Last Sunday the black minister of Frogmore said that if they knew the President were dead they would mourn for him, but they could not think that was the truth, and they would wait and see. We are going to-morrow to hear what further they say. One man came for clothing and seemed very indifferent about them — different from most of the people. I expressed some surprise. “Oh,” he said, “I have lost a friend. I don’t care much now about anything.” “What friend?” I asked, not really thinking for a moment. “They call him Sam,” he said; “Uncle Sam, the best friend ever I had.” Another asked me in a whisper if it were true that the “Government was dead.” Rina says she can’t sleep for thinking how sorry she is to lose “Pa Linkum.” You know they call their elders in the church—of the particular one who converted and received them in — their spiritual father, and he has the most absolute power over them. These fathers are addressed with feat and awe as “Pa Marcus,” “Pa Demas,” etc. One man said to me, “Lincoln died for we, Christ died for we, and me believe him de same mans,” that is, they are the same person.
We dressed our school-house in what black we could get, and gave a shred of crape to same of our children, who wear it sacredly. Fanny’s bonnet supplied the whole school.




[Transcription by: Grace C., Dr. Susan Corbesero’s Class, Ellis School, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania]

Source

The University of Wisconsin - Madison via Google Books

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Laura M. Towne. "Excerpts from the Letters and diary of Laura M. Towne". Cambridge, Printed at the Riverside Press,. Remembering Lincoln. Web. Accessed May 5, 2025. https://rememberinglincoln.fords.org/node/1194

Creator

Laura M. Towne

Publisher

Cambridge, Printed at the Riverside Press,

Date

April 22, 1865

Full Title

Excerpt from The War-time Journal of a Georgia girl, 1864-1865

Description

Eliza Frances Andrews was born in Washington, Georgia in 1840. Her father was a prominent judge and planter. While her parents supported the Union, she and her three brothers supported the Confederacy. Her journal begins with her journey to Macon, Georgia in December 1864 to meet relatives with whom she would stay until the War ended. Her journal was heavily edited and published 40 years later. However, it gives insight into Andrews reaction to the Lincoln Assassination and to his memorial on June 1, 1865.

Transcription

The War-time Journal of a Georgia girl 1864 dash 1865 by Eliza Frances Andrews

… Secessionists,” he used to call them, when angry or heated By contradiction, but more commonly, “the poor fools,” in a tone of half-pitying rebuke, just as he had spoken of them on that memorable night when the bells were ringing for the secession of his State.
It was probably his warmth in advocating this policy to “agree with the adversary quickly” lest a worse thing should befall us by delay, that led to his action at the public meeting referred to in the text. What was said and done on that occasion, and the substance of the resolutions that gave such offense, I know no more to this day than when the account in the journal was penned. The subject was never alluded to between us and our father. Whether the course of events would have been altered if councils such as his had prevailed, no one can tell. The passion and fury of the time were not favorable to moderation, and the fatal mistake was made, that has petrified the fifteenth amendment in our national constitution comma and injected a race problem into our national life. There it stands to-day, a solid wedge of alien material cleaving the heartwood of our nation's tree of life, and throwing the dead weight of its impenetrable mass on whatever side its own interests or passion, or the influence of designing politicians may direct it.
June 1, Thursday. –I dressed up in my best, intending to celebrate the Yankee fast by going out to pay some call, but I had so many visitors at home that I did not get out till late in the afternoon. I’m sorry enough that Lincoln was assassinated, Heaven knows, but in this public fast is a political scheme gotten up to throw reproach on the South comma and I wouldn't keep it if I were ten times as sorry as I am.
The “righteous Lot” Has come back to town. It is uncertain whether he or Capt. Schaeffer is to reign over us; we hope the latter. He is said to be a very gentlemanly-looking person, and above associating with negroes. his men look cleaner than the other garrison, but Garnett saw one of them with a lady’s gold bracelet on his arm, which shows what they are capable of. I never look at them, but always turn away my head, or pull down my veil when I meet any of them period the streets are so negroes That I don't like to go out when I can help it, though they seem to be behaving better about Washington than in most other places. Capt. Schaeffer does not encourage them in leaving their Masters, still, many of them try to play at freedom, and give themselves airs that are exasperating. The last time I went on the street, two great, strapping wenches forced me off the sidewalk. I could have raised a row by calling for protection from the first Confederate I met, or making complaint at Yankee headquarters, but would not stoop to quarrel with negroes. If the question had to be settled By these Yankees who are in the South comma and see the working of things, I do not believe emancipation would be forced on us in such a hurry; but unfortunately, the government is in the hands of a set of crazy abolitionists, who will make a pretty mess, meddling with things they know nothing about. Some of the Yankee generals have already been converted from their abolition sentiments, and it is said that Wilson is deviled all by out of his life by the negroes in South-West Georgia. In Atlanta, Judge Irvin says he saw the corpses of two dead negroes kicking about the streets unburied, waiting for the public ambulance to come and cart them away.
June 4, Sunday. –Still another batch of Yankees comma and one of them preceded to distinguish himself at once, by “capturing” a negro's watch. They carry out their principles by robbing impartially, without regard to “race, color, or previous condition.” ’Ginny Dick had kept his watch and chain hid ever since the bluecoats put forth this act of philanthropy, and George Palmer's old Maum Betsy said that she has “knowned white folks all her life, an’ some mighty mean ones, but Yankees is de fust ever she seed mean enough to steal fum niggers.” Everybody suspected that mischief was afoot, as soon as the Yankees began coming in such force, and they soon fulfilled expectations by going to the bank and seizing $100,000 in specie belonging to the Virginia banks, which the Confederate calvarymen had restored as soon as they found it was private property. They then arrested the Virginia bank officers, and went about town “pressing” people’s horses to take them to Danburg, to get the “robbers” and the rest of the money, which they say is concealed there. One of the men came to our house after supper, while we were sitting out on…

[Transcription by Quoc T., Ford’s Theatre Society.]

Source

Lincoln Financial Foundation Collection via The Internet Archive

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This item is in the public domain and may be reproduced and used for any purpose, including research, teaching, private study, publication, broadcast or commercial use, with proper citation and attribution.

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Cite this Item

Eliza Frances Andrews. "Excerpt from The War-time Journal of a Georgia girl, 1864-1865". New York : D. Appleton and Company. Remembering Lincoln. Web. Accessed May 5, 2025. https://rememberinglincoln.fords.org/node/1188

Creator

Eliza Frances Andrews

Publisher

New York : D. Appleton and Company

Date

June 1, 1865

Full Title

A letter from Robert Todd Lincoln to Dr. Josiah G. Holland

Description

A letter from Robert Todd Lincoln to Dr. Josiah G. Holland, a writer who later wrote a biography of Abraham Lincoln called the Life of Abraham Lincoln in 1866.

Transcription

Chicago June 6th/65

My dear Sir

Your letter received
some days ago & I have unfortunately
mislaid it, so that I have to answer
it from memory.
As I understand your purpose
it is to write a biography which is
to be rather personal than political.
With regard to sources of information
I may be able to guide you a little
One of my father’s old time friends
is Dr. A. G. Henry of Washington
City, D.C. & who may be addressed in
care of Senator Williams at Washington, D.C. He was
very intimate with him after some time
in 1830-35 & will be please to help you
all he can. Another of his friends of

among those to whom you might
apply. I understand that Mr. H
is intending to write a biography
himself & you will judge for yourself
as to whether to write to him.
I have explained at some length
the reasons of the messiness of my
knowledge & I try you will attribute
the little value of this letter to that cause.
With great respect I am
Very sincerely yours
Robert T. Lincoln
Dr. J.E. Holland
&c &c

[*Robert T. Lincoln*]

[Transcription by Henry R.]

Source

Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library

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This item is in the public domain and may be reproduced and used for any purpose, including research, teaching, private study, publication, broadcast or commercial use, with proper citation and attribution.

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Cite this Item

Robert Todd Lincoln . "A letter from Robert Todd Lincoln to Dr. Josiah G. Holland". Remembering Lincoln. Web. Accessed May 5, 2025. https://rememberinglincoln.fords.org/node/1180

Creator

Robert Todd Lincoln

Date

June 6, 1865

Full Title

Mary Todd Lincoln to Dr. Josiah G. Holland

Description

A letter from Mary Todd Lincoln to Dr. Josiah G. Holland after receiving a copy of Holland's biography of her husband, the Life of Abraham Lincoln.

Transcription

Chicago Dec 4th 1865
Private –
Dr. J. G. Holland
My dear Sir:
The Biography of my deeply lamented husband, which you have so kindly sent me, has been received and read, with very great interest. After a careful perusal of the work, I find the statements, in most instances, so very correct, that I feel quite surprised, as to the extent of your minute information. From the description of my husband, early struggles, which he has, so frequently described to me, to the foolish and uncalled for rencontre, with Gen Shields, all are truthfully portrayed.
It is exceedingly painful to me, now suffering under such an overwhelming bereavement, to recall that happy time my beloved husband had so entirely devoted himself to one, for two years before my marriage, that I doubted trespassed, many times & oft, upon his great tenderness & amiability of character. There never existed a more loving & devoted husband & such a Father, has seldom been bestowed on children. Crushed and bowed to the earth, with our great great sorrow, for the sake of my poor afflicted boys, I have to strive to live on, and comfort them, as well as I can. You are aware that with all the President’s deep feeling, he was not a demonstrative man, when he felt most deeply, he expressed the least. There are some very good persons who are inclined to magnify conversations & incidents, connected with their slight acquaintance with this great & good man. For instance, the purported conversations This last event, occurred about six months before our marriage, when, Mr. Lincoln thought he had some right to assume to be my champion, even on frivolous occasions. The poor Gent, in our little gay circle, was oftentimes, the subject of mirth & even song. And we were then surrounded by several of those, who have since been appreciated by the world. The Gent was very impulsive & on the occasion referred to, had placed himself before us, in so ridiculous a light, that the love of the ludicrous had been excited within me & I pressure, I gave vent to it, in some very silly levies. After the reconciliation between the contending parties Mr L & myself mutually agreed never to refer to it & except in an occasional light manner, between us, it was never mentioned. I am surprised at so distant a day, you should have ever heard of the circumstance.
Between the President & the Hospital nurse, it was not his nature to commit his griefs and religious feelings so fully to words & that with an entire stranger. Even between ourselves, when our deep & touching sorrows were one & the same, his expressions were few – Also the lengthy account of the lady who very wisely persisted in claiming a hospital for her State, my husband never had the time to discuss these matters, so lengthily to any person or persons-- too many of them came daily in review before him – And again, I cannot understand how strangely his temper could be at so complete a variance from what it always was, in the home circle. There he was always so gentle & kind. Before closing this long letter which I fear will weary you, ___ you get through it – allow me again to assure you of the great satisfaction the perusal of your Memoirs have given me.
I remain very truly and gratefully,
Mary Lincoln

[Transcription by Susan Brady Carr]

Source

Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library

Rights

This item is in the public domain and may be reproduced and used for any purpose, including research, teaching, private study, publication, broadcast or commercial use, with proper citation and attribution.

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Cite this Item

Mary Todd Lincoln. "Mary Todd Lincoln to Dr. Josiah G. Holland". Remembering Lincoln. Web. Accessed May 5, 2025. https://rememberinglincoln.fords.org/node/1179

Creator

Mary Todd Lincoln

Date

December 4, 1865